


Optimism

by samirows



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Demonic Possession, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, One Shot, Permabipper AU, because i care so much, more people should care about this au, this is my first fic here and I don't know how tagging works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-19 10:22:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2384888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samirows/pseuds/samirows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been five years since either of them have been back to Gravity Falls. The drive up isn't particularly pleasant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Optimism

**Author's Note:**

> So if you're not aware of the AU (which, if you're not, I'm not really surprised and that's okay), the premise is that Bill somehow gets stuck inside Dipper's body after he possesses him. Now, pulling someone's consciousness out of their body takes a whole lot of work, so Dipper basically has to take up being the dream demon that Bill had been in order to switch their bodies back.
> 
> So this is five years later.

It’s 6:18 when Mabel pulls off the interstate and into the gas station. Nether her nor her traveling partner have slept or eaten in hours, and frankly, neither of them care to. The cheery pop song on the radio stops mid-chorus when she turns the car off. The sound dead air of this truck stop gas station suited the mood better anyway.

Mabel sits in the car for a moment– car door closed and keys still in. She looks to the passenger seat, looks at the pair of worn converse resting on the console. He’s leaned the seat all the way back, hands resting behind his unwashed mop of hair. Mabel doesn’t suspect that he’s trying to sleep, from the way he’s looking out the window. She hasn’t heard a word from him in hours. 

“Hey.” She pulls her phone from the charger and tosses it onto his stomach. “See how much farther we have to go.”

The passenger is snapped out of his daze, looks down at the phone on his lap, then up to Mabel. In that second she catches sight of those yellowed, slit eyes, she pulls the keys from the ignition, unbuckles, and gets out of the car. 

She’s not mad, she tells herself as she lets the gas pump. She leans against the door, watching the digital numbers pass by like a timer. She’s not scared or mad anymore. It’s been years since she’s been mad. But every time she sees those eyes, she’s reminded that the brother she’s been living with for the past five years isn’t her brother at all. 

By the time she’s finished, he’s read over the directions five times. “Should only be another half hour til we get there,” he says, handing the phone back to Mabel before she can even duck into the car. “Sure you don’t want me to take over?”

“You don’t even have your license,”

“You sure?”

“ _Bill–”_ She sighs and starts up the car. “Sit up and put your seatbelt on.”

Theres a few more minutes of silence as they pull back out onto the highway. 

“Been a long time, eh Shooting Star?”

“Mhm.”

“You think he’ll still be there?”

She only offered a shrug in response.

Bill frowned and propped his elbow up on the window, resting his chin in his hand. “Mhm…”

On most occasions Bill had his own sense of style. (Mabel distinctly remembers the first few weeks he took to showering regularly. “Who are you and what did you do with our son?” her mom teased.) Other times he would dress like Dipper would have, like some sort of sad and ironic homage to the person he was trying to be. Today he was leaning toward the latter, dirty cargo shorts and a blue sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He doesn’t bother to hide the scars around Mabel. Each with their own distinct shape and size, she could probably name every one, and which color bandage it once wore. Bill never thanked her for them. She knew Dipper would have.

“What if…” she starts, but she’s hesitant. “What If he’s not there?”

“Where else could he have gone? Listen, I’ve been around the mindscape long enough to know that there’s nowhere else he _can_ go. Hell, not like anything _bad’s_ happened to him. He’s practically immortal when he’s in there.  

“But if he’s not–“

“ _Relax_. I’m sure he’s fine.” 

Mabel isn’t all that reassured by the uneasy tone to Bill’s voice. Her voice is quiet, nervous. She doesn’t look at Bill, just straight ahead at the long stretch of road in front of them. “And… if he hasn’t figured it out yet?”

Bill’s quiet again, this time for a solid minute. That’s what he’d feared. What if Pine Tree hadn’t figured out how to pull Bill out of this smelly flesh prison? Or worse, what if he didn’t want to?

Well, optimism _is_ having to lie to yourself, isn’t it?

“You’re gonna doubt your own brother? Come on, you know him better than anybody. ‘Course he will. He’ll be a regular expert.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to tumblr user liamniisan for brainstorming this AU with me and making me SUFFER TREMENDOUSLY


End file.
